January's theme was 'Teaching' and six winners, from 5 different countries, were crowned winners. The winners will receive their ‘HIPA Recognition Awards’ in the coming days.

Commenting on the latest Instagram Photo Contest results, the Secretary General of HIPA His Excellency Ali bin Thalith said: “With the start of the new year, we are delighted to once again be able to announce the winners for our Instagram Photo Contest. The theme for the January contest was ‘Teaching’ where participants were challenged to come up with creative interpretations of education through their cameras. The resulting photographs and in particular the winners are a testimony to the dedication and skill of our HIPA community, who have once again showcased their endless talent to the rest of the world. We congratulate all our winners and wish all participants the best of luck in future editions of the contest."

Filipino photographer and Instagram Photo Contest winner Eduardo Seastres said: “I am extremely honoured and proud of what I had achieved so far, it is a real big achievement for me to be a part of this amazing showcase of outstanding images that are showcased around the globe. Thank you HIPA!"

Seastre, who is a telecoms engineer by profession, revealed that his photograph was taken in May of last year in his hometown in the Philippines. He said, “There’s such a great story to tell with this photograph, which I am very connected to on a personal level. I have decided to name this photograph ‘Determination’ because I believe it shows the child’s aspirations and hard work and that particularly brings back a lot of memories for me at a younger age.”

Another winner, Omani photographer Ahmed Al Hashami, whose photograph is of his younger brother practising his maths times tables on a wall, said: “This is my first time winning any sort of photography competition. I am both very happy and motivated to go and shoot more photographs and hopefully do even better in the future.”

When asked about his chance encounter with his brother writing on the wall, he said: “Upon coming home from work one day, I caught my brother practising his maths times tables on our house wall. Annoyed at first, I asked him to remove it but he managed to run away without doing so. A few minutes later, he was back writing on the wall and I figured it’d be quite a nice photo to capture, and that I did! In a way, I wouldn’t have been able to win without the help of my mischievous brother.”

The theme for the February edition of the Instagram Photo Contest will be ‘Red’. Entries can be submitted through the hashtag #HIPAContest_Red. The theme for December's competition was ‘Architecture’ and you can find more information about this competition here: 10 Winners Announced For December HIPA Instagram Photo Contest